Northview’s Knights are the new girls at the party in more ways than one in Indiana high school volleyball regionals involving four Wabash Valley teams today.
Class A representatives Shakamak and Rockville are making their third straight and second straight regional trips. Sullivan returns to Class 3A regional competition that it knows well after a one-year absence.
But Northview is a Class 4A champion for the first time — the Knights won a sectional most recently in 1996, in a single-class format — and will be at the Seymour Regional along with three teams who seem to be there virtually every season.
Fortunately, the Northview girls are not shy.
The Knights get the toughest of the three Seymour perennials out of the way first, when they face third-ranked Floyd Central in the 11 a.m. opener. Ninth-ranked Columbus East plays Castle in the second semifinal.
“From what I’ve been told, [the Highlanders] are along the lines of Plainfield, but with a better setter,” coach Scott McDonald of the Knights said earlier this week.
“The setter is 6-feet, and everybody else is under that, but they have one [prominent] outside hitter.”
McDonald is hopeful that Floyd Central might be vulnerable in serve-receive — the Knights, with Kaylee Clark leading the way, were strong in that area in their sectional at Martinsville last week — and expects that the defensive prowess of Clark and libero Ashlen Buck is vital to his team’s chances.
“We’ve got to pass. We’re not big enough to outhit anybody,” McDonald said. “But with Ashlen and Kaylee passing like they can, we’re going to get swings sometime.”
Should the Knights get behind early, they’re not likely to become discouraged after their history of sectional comebacks.
“I told [Northview girls athletic director] Jan [Gambill, herself a former volleyball coach] to tell Floyd Central that we’ll start out down 0-2 so we can get [the match] over in three [games],” McDonald joked.
Seeing his team rally from 0-2 deficits twice made last weekend a special one for McDonald, his family and the entire Northview community, he indicated.
“This was our first Class [4A] sectional championship, and I’m so happy for the kids,” the coach said. “So many people doubted them … and the way they rallied around each other [to win the sectional] was really neat.”
In Class 3A competition, Sullivan goes to the Jasper Regional to face a team they’ve already played, Boonville, in a field without a ranked team. Silver Creek plays the host Wildcats in the 11 a.m. opener.
“We played [Boonville] at their place the first Saturday in October,” coach Jennifer Murdock of Sullivan said this week. “We lost in two [in a best-of-three weekend tournament format], but the second game was closer … and we had played back-to-back and [the Pioneers] didn’t, because it was their tournament.”
The Golden Arrows shouldn’t be intimidated, in other words. They might even be playing a team that could take them lightly. And with no ranked teams in the field, and with comparable records among all four teams …
“Of any of the years we’ve been down there [to Jasper], this is one regional that is definitely up for grabs,” Murdock concluded.
Jennifer Pakiz thinks that could be the case as Wes-Del too, even though two teams — defending regional champion Lafayette Central Catholic and the host Warriors — are ranked in the top five in Class A.
But Pakiz’ Rockville team has the best record among the four, the Rox don’t have to play either of the ranked teams in their first match … and maybe the survivor of the second semifinal between the third-ranked Knights and the fifth-ranked host team won’t have much left for the championship.
“Rockville has never won even a game at a regional,” Pakiz said this week, “so that’s something we want to take care of first [in the 11 a.m. match against Randolph Southern].
“But we have some leadership really starting to show,” added Pakiz, whose roster includes at least two future Division I athletes in Beth Mahurin (Indiana State volleyball) and Lindsey Greene (Illinois State softball). “The girls are excited to get this done.”
Should Rockville win at Wes-Del, they’d play the winner of the South Decatur Regional in the state semifinals at Muncie a week from now. The Rox might even get another chance to play Shakamak, which handed Rockville one of its four losses earlier this fall at the Shakamak Invitational.
Coach Jeri Morin’s Lakers have a situation similar to Rockville’s today — playing the first match at South Decatur, with the ranked team and defending regional champion involved in the later semifinal.
Shakamak’s record isn’t as good as that of its first-round foe, Edinburgh, but its schedule has probably been tougher.
“We feel pretty good about [today’s match],” Morin said this week. “We’ve been [to the regional] the last three years, [Edinburgh] hasn’t been there for 36 years.”
The past two years the Lakers have run into Indianapolis Lutheran in the first round of regional play, and Lutheran, ranked ninth despite a record barely above .500, is considered the favorite again.
“The girls have been practicing pretty well,” Morin said. “Our goal right now is to make it past the first game, because we haven’t done that yet.”
Indiana volleyball regionals
Class 4A
At Seymour
Northview (27-9) vs. Floyd Central (33-3), 11 a.m., followed by Columbus East (27-8) vs. Castle (27-7)
Class 3A
At Jasper
Silver Creek (25-11) vs. Jasper (21-13), 11 a.m., followed by Sullivan (24-10) vs. Boonville (25-10)
Class A
At South Decatur
Edinburgh (28-6) vs. Shakamak (21-9), 11 a.m., followed by Indianapolis Lutheran (18-16) vs. Rising Sun (27-7)
At Wes-Del
Randolph Southern (20-15) vs. Rockville (26-4), 11 a.m., followed by Lafayette Central Catholic (28-7) vs. Wes-Del (25-7)
All championship matches 7 p.m.
High School
Valley volleyball squads look to advance today in regionals
- High School
-
-
It’s a rivalry-filled Memorial Day for sectional contenders
Longtime rivalries figure to determine high school baseball sectional champions throughout the Wabash Valley today, with semifinal and final games scheduled at four sites and a stand-alone championship game at a fifth.
-
South tops Oldenburg to win tennis semistate
There was no evidence of rally caps, rally towels and certainly no rally squirrels, but Terre Haute South’s No. 1 singles player Maddie Kesler needed a rally in the worst way.
-
New route leads to same place for South girls tennis
For so many years, the road to the IHSAA girls tennis state finals for local teams ran through Vincennes (regional) and Jasper (semistate). In other words, south and more south.
This year, their trip was re-routed through Greencastle (regional) and Center Grove (semistate). So it cnahged to east and more east. -
PREP ROUNDUP: Robinson tops Greenville in sectional semifinal
Robinson jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then cruised to a convincing 12-3 victory over Greenville in a IHSA Class 2A Vandalia sectional semifinal game on Thursday.
Ashlyn Sullivan was 2 for 3 with a double, home run and three RBIs to lead the winning Maroons. -
West Vigo baseball falls in sectional to Owen Valley
West Vigo overcame the odds to win 20 high school baseball games this season with a lineup that often included four freshmen and few seniors.
-
South Vermillion softball's late-season surge comes to end
A late-season surge by South Vermillion wasn’t quite enough to halt a high school softball sectional winning streak by the host team Thursday night, as Edgewood got on top early and held on for a 5-2 win in the championship game of the Class 3A Edgewood Sectional.
The loss was just the second in the last 12 games for the Wildcats. The Mustangs, however, haven’t lost a sectional softball game for eight years in a row. -
South takes second, North third at boys track regional
Terre Haute South finished second and Terre Haute North third on Thursday night at the boys track and field regional at Evansville Central, with 11 individuals and three relay teams qualifying for the state finals June 2.
-
PREP ROUNDUP: White River Valley baseball holds off Eminence
Three Eminence errors in the top of the sixth inning finally enabled White River Valley to score in high school baseball Thursday night, and the Wolverines went on to a 5-0 win in Class A Shakamak Sectional action.
-
Feeling cursed: South bitten in sectional final again
Terre Haute South softball is not even close to being as cursed as a certain northside baseball team in Chicago, but it might just seem like it.
-
PREP ROUNDUP: Mundy, Porter, Knight individual regional winners
Chanli Mundy and Keirra Porter of Terre Haute North were among the individual winners in the IHSAA Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
-
Thornton puts away South Vermillion
Cody Thornton’s three-run blast over the left-field fence was the finishing touch to West Vigo’s 10-3 victory over South Vermillion in the opening game of the Class 3A Greencastle Sectional on Wednesday.
-
Lakers triumph, go home for regional
Shakamak took Class A Clay City Sectional honors in high school softball for the first time since 2009 Wednesday, defeating White River Valley 9-5 in the title tilt.
-
North Vermillion avenges losses
North Vermillion avenged two high school softball losses during the regular season to win the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional championship Wednesday with a 3-2 triumph over the host Panthers.
-
Pats, Knights will meet in sectional
Adler Ingalsbe pooh-poohed his lack of velocity Wednesday night, yet the Terre Haute North pitcher was throwing BBs in the first game compared to Mooresville’s Brandon Topie in the nightcap.
-
South outbattles Northview to reach sectional final
Even the best of high school softball pitchers can’t keep all the batters in the middle of Terre Haute South’s lineup down.
-
Panthers get 20th win in sectional
Riverton Parke will face North Vermillion in the Class A softball sectional championship at Riverton Parke today, with action commencing at 6 p.m.
-
Plainfield Sectional all about parity
Considering Terre Haute South has won five consecutive Class 4A sectional titles in high school baseball, naming the Braves as favorites to capture the 2012 Class 4A Plainfield Sectional would not seem far-fetched.
-
PREP ROUNDUP: North Vermillion in title game
Casey West had a triple and three runs scored to help North Vermillion softball advance to the championship game of the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional on Tuesday.
-
North takes second in track regional
Terre Haute North finished second with 74 points, six behind team champion Evansville Reitz, during the Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
-
Wildcats advance to sectional softball final; West Vigo falls
Patience, patience.
South Vermillion exhibited great patience, being very selective at the plate and it paid off royally in the fourth inning. -
South, Crawfordsville win in regional tennis semis
Terre Haute South outlasted Fountain Central 4-1 in the first round of the girls high school tennis regional Tuesday, advancing the Braves into today’s championship match against Crawfordsville.
-
Braves, Knights open with wins
It was an excellent night for starting softball pitchers to help their own cause Monday night in the Class 4A Northview Sectional.
-
Lough dreamt about McMillan
A two-time state finalist in wrestling and a two-time all-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference football player and wrestler, Tsali Lough of Terre Haute South was named the male recipient of the 2012 McMillan Award on Monday night at South’s Senior Awards Night.
-
PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers cruise in sectional opener
Sarah Burnham pitched a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in high school softball Monday evening as host Riverton Parke defeated defending champion Rockville 10-0 in opening-round action at the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional.
-
Notable tradition bodes well for Riverton Parke
Located practically in the shadow of a high school that sets one state standard in track and field, Riverton Parke has a tendency to be overlooked in that sport.
-
Vikings get 18th win over Shakamak
West Vigo began a busy week of high school baseball Monday on a winning note, defeating Shakamak 6-3.
-
Greencastle new site for girls tennis regional
The starting times might prove to be a bone of contention, but otherwise coaches Bill Blankenbaker and Emily Goff are thrilled their respective girls high school tennis teams will begin play today at the Greencastle Regional.
-
Northview sectional groups 3 20-win teams
Three teams with 20-plus victories will attempt to claim the Class 4A Northview Sectional crown for high school softball this week, and most of the other Wabash Valley sectional fields also appear to be wide open.
-
Terre Haute South softball takes Riverton Parke tournament
Terre Haute South is going into the Class 4A Sectional at Northview on Monday with momentum, confidence, a deep bench and a healthier pitching staff than it has had in quite a while.
-
North baseball splits doubleheader with Indy North Central
Some of their incentive could have been sapped a couple of nights earlier, when Center Grove achieved an eight-inning victory over Warren Central to clinch the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school baseball championship.
- More High School Headlines
-
It’s a rivalry-filled Memorial Day for sectional contenders
Beryl Threatens Rain, Winds on Southeast Coast
Raw Video: National Mall Concert Shut Down
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Astronauts Enter World's 1st Private Supply Ship
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Today in History
Shell Readies Arctic Drill Ship
Tropical Storm Beryl Strengthens, Nears US Coast
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Dragon Arrives at Space Station in Historic 1st
Passenger Restrained on Flight to Miami Arrested
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Man Rescued From River in China
Beyonce Entertains the First Family
Celtics crush Sixers in Game 7
Alleged Lego Thief Faces Felony Charges
Has Snooki Named Her Baby?
Heat Wave Warms Holiday Weekend
Inspiration for the class of 2012
Colorado College Student Shot While Trespassing
Will Smith & Josh Brolin on "Men in Black 3"
80-Year-Old Skydiver's Nightmare Jump
JWoww Sizzles in a Black Bikini
Sliders on the Grill
Cruise ship crunch
Backstage With Beyonce
Ultimate Creamy Potato Salad
Pope's Personal Butler Under Arrest
Jenny McCarthy's New Man
Tyler's Classic Coleslaw
Britney Spears Under X Factor Fire
Flesh-Eating Bacteria Victim Hits Milestone
